The present invention relates to methods and compositions for protecting crop plants from undesirable effects of pesticides (such as insecticides and/or herbicides). The crop plants are protected by treating the roots, seeds or soil surrounding the crop plant or the foliage thereof with an effective amount of the phthalimide compounds disclosed herein in conjunction with the use of the effective amount of the insecticide and/or herbicide.
Although many insecticidally and/or herbicidally active compounds are commercially available for the protection of agronomically important crops, the spectrum of crops in which these compounds may be employed is frequently limited due to insufficient selectivity on that given crop or because an inadequate margin of safety exists between the rates required for pesticidal activity and the rates at which undesirable effects on the crop plant are observed. The margin of safety for a given compound on a given crop may be effected by weather conditions such as extended periods of low temperature, excessive rainfall, excessive heat or dryness and soil type. Also, the use of specific compounds may be unsuitable in areas where crops are rotated, due to residual activity of the compounds on the following years crop.
The phthalimide compounds useful in the present invention and their preparation are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,419, incorporated herein by reference thereto. Those phthalimide compounds and their use as plant growth regulating compounds also are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,299, also incorporated herein by reference thereto. However, surprisingly, it has been found that treatment of crops with said phthalimide compounds results in safening from the phytotoxic effects encountered by treatment with a variety of pesticides, such as insecticidal and/or herbicidal compounds.